Grim update after junior doctor at Aussie hospital was accused of filming nurses on the toilet
Ryan Yi Cho, 28, of Croydon Hills in Melbourne 's east, was arrested twice in July and charged with a total of six offences for alleged offending at the Austin Hospital.
He was first arrested on July 10 after a phone concealed in a mesh bag was discovered in a staff toilet at the Austin Hospital in Melbourne's northeast.
Later that month, he was arrested for a second time after police analysed devices and allegedly uncovered more than 10,000 videos and images.
Cho was charged by police on Wednesday with 127 further offences relating to alleged offending at the Austin but also at the Royal Melbourne Hospital and the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre.
The new charges relate to stalking, producing intimate images and installing optical surveillance devices, police said.
Officers allege a mobile phone was used as a recording device in staff toilets at all three hospitals, that were used by doctors, nurses and other staff.
Police have confirmed their investigation is ongoing, including looking into other medical facilities where Cho worked between 2020 and 2025.
Victoria Police investigators that said more alleged victims are expected to be identified but the process could 'take some time'.
A spokesperson for the Austin Hospital said it continues to focus its full support on all staff members affected and assist with the current police investigation.
'We take the safety and wellbeing of our staff extremely seriously and have comprehensive services in place to support them at this challenging time,' they told Daily Mail.
'Given that charges have been laid and the police investigation is ongoing, it is not appropriate to comment further.'
The Daily Mail has contacted Royal Melbourne Hospital and the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre for comment.
During an appearance at Melbourne Magistrates' Court on July 25, the court heard that officers claimed to have found 10,374 video and image files of Cho's alleged victims on several devices.
Victoria Police told the court there could be as many as 460 different people allegedly affected, who had all been named on numerous folders found on Cho's computer.
The folders allegedly contained a variety of footage of both men and women using hospital toilets, the court heard.
It was also alleged in court that Cho captured much of the footage by hanging mesh bags containing mobile phones on the back of staff toilet doors, which police allege he activated to capture hours of lewd footage.
One phone allegedly contained 4,500 intimate videos of staff members, the court heard.
One video file ran for more than three hours and allegedly captured various hospital staff in states of undress as they used the toilet, the court heard.
It was also heard that Cho is alleged to have sabotaged nearby toilets by removing flush buttons, clogging them with toilet paper, or locking them from the outside, so colleagues had no other option but to use the toilet he was filming in.
Detectives believe Cho had been offending across various Melbourne hospitals from as far back as 2021, the court heard.
The court heard police believed the majority of Cho's alleged victims were doctors, nurses, paramedics and other hospital staff.
But some videos appeared to have allegedly been captured in residential settings, with the court told detectives were afraid they included previous housemates of Cho.
Cho appeared in court in July defended by top criminal lawyer George Balot, of Balot Reilly Criminal Lawyers, who unsuccessfully argued his client should be released on bail.
Cho was supported in court by his parents, who flew in from Singapore to offer the court a $10,000 surety to ensure he complied with any bail conditions.
Mr Balot said his client's parents would remain in Australia and ensure Cho complied with his bail conditions.
'He has engaged criminal lawyers, a psychologist, a sexologist, his parents are in Australia to do whatever it takes to have him released to their care,' he said.
Cho is a Singapore citizen who has been living in Australia as a permanent resident after completing a Monash University medical degree.
He is expected to make another bid for bail at a hearing in the Supreme Court on Friday.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
2 hours ago
- The Independent
When obsessive adoration turns into hate: Nick Cohen on the sinister haunting of the famous
ANDREW Farquharson is by any definition an obsessive fan. The unemployed fitness fanatic stalked, phoned and wrote to actress Helena Bonham Carter, and her parents, for five years. His pestering became so intrusive that she was forced to get a court order in February banning him from entering the family's north London home or loitering on the street outside. Even then, he said: 'Perhaps she's taking this action as a way of clinging on, you know, keeping our thing going.' Yesterday, he mulled over whether to talk about his life until the suggestion came up that there was a similarity between his utterly unrequited passion and the strange fixation on Steffi Graf which drove a 38-year-old German to stab Monica Seles. 'Right . . . That does it. Goodbye,' he shouted and slammed the phone down. His anger was not merely because he never assaulted anyone but because, even in the peculiar gallery of obsessive fans, Ms Seles' attacker is very peculiar indeed. Most concentrate on the object of their devotion, often harmlessly. A few react violently when the star fails to respond. Their apparent love turns to hatred and their idol becomes a target. This dangerous love has become so commonplace that the unwelcome attentions of 'stalkers' have almost become an accepted risk of being a celebrity. In the US, cases like the murder of Rebecca Schaeffer, a 21-year-old Hollywood actress, shot dead in 1991 by a caretaker who had sent her gifts, has made the use of bodyguards and the carrying of guns by stars commonplace. The threat has spawned the growth of Hollywood security companies who specialise in spotting mail and calls from potentially dangerous fans. In Britain, adulation has never resulted in death. But Stephen Hendry and Ben Elton have taken legal action against fans who bombarded them with letters and calls. Even a children's television presenter, Michaela Strachan, has suffered. Last year, an unemployed taxi driver from Sefton, Liverpool, was sent to a psychiatric hospital indefinitely after admitting sending her 3,000 letters which included cuttings from pornographic magazines and veiled death threats. Dr James Thompson , senior lecturer in psychology at University College, London, said yesterday that a man who deluded himself into thinking a woman was in love with him and got no response could respond in many ways. 'Sometimes he could think it's a conspiracy, that, in the case of a star, her managers and minders are deliberately keeping him away from her,' Dr Thompson said. 'Doing something dramatic to someone else, as appears to have happened in this case, is a way of attracting her attention. Of saying 'look at me - I've done this for you'.' John Hinckley, who shot and wounded Ronald Reagan in March 1981, is the most obvious example of this rarer type. He was said to have been motivated by a mad desire to impress the actress Jodie Foster. He used this defence at the time of his trial to plead not guilty by reason of insanity. The court believed him and he was acquitted and sent to a mental hospital. Hinckley had a collection of photographs of the actress and had commissioned a nude drawing of her from a mail order company. Dr Thompson said he would be very surprised if there were not photographs of Steffi Graf and letters to the tennis star in the German attacker's home. Men who vainly thought they could impress a star were usually isolated and had little connection with the real world except through television, he said. 'Sooner or later they can become convinced that someone they see has a special relationship with them,' he said. 'What is comparatively new is that they fix on a sportsman or woman. Twenty years ago sportsmen were just admired for what they did. Now they have the lifestyle of Hollywood film stars and are in a sense like other celebrities who are famous. 'Television has helped because it gives them massive exposure. With close-up camera you can see as much tension and emotion in a long tennis match as a Hollywood film - more sometimes.' (Photograph omitted)
The Guardian
5 hours ago
- The Guardian
Database to track childcare workers and mobile phone bans on the table as Australian ministers set to meet
A national system to track childcare worker misconduct is key to keeping children safe, one of Australia's largest early education providers has said, arguing every worker in every state should be subject to mandatory reporting. It comes amid disagreement among states and territories about moves to ban mobile phones in childcare centres, ahead of a critical meeting of education ministers to decide on new rules about safety training, CCTV and a database to track worker movements. After several allegations of abuse of children in early education, state and federal government have been scrambling to update rules and crack down on safety in childcare. Amid several snap state reviews, the federal education minister, Jason Clare, will bring together his counterparts on Friday, where a national register of workers is expected to be agreed. Sign up: AU Breaking News email Attorneys general last week agreed to work toward a nationally consistent working with children check scheme. Dr Ros Baxter, CEO of Goodstart Early Learning – which runs more than 650 centres nationwide – said a national system to log worker misconduct was also critical. 'We need a national reportable conduct scheme. Five states have these, each operating with different rules. Every person in every state should be subject to mandatory reporting rules,' she told Guardian Australia. Baxter backed a nationally consistent working with children check, raising concerns about employers in some states currently not being notified about problems registered in other states, and the national register of employment histories. South Australia is expected to strongly push for nationally consistent bans for personal mobile phones in centres. SA and Victoria have begun implementing bans on personal mobiles, which will become a national requirement from 1 September, while Western Australia announced it would also soon implement a ban. SA's early education minister, Blair Boyer, is expected to address Friday's meeting, outlining how his state will monitor the ban and ensure compliance by childcare services. 'South Australia was also the first jurisdiction with Victoria to implement a personal device ban in early learning settings,' he told Guardian Australia. 'I'm looking forward to discussing with my state and territory colleagues about how we have rolled this out to ensure all jurisdictions are in line with each other.' Guardian Australia understands that Queensland is more hesitant to implement the mobile phone ban, and has concerns over unintended consequences for some centres. This week, Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia have also committed millions in new funding to update and increase compliance measures. It's understood some major childcare providers are also hesitant to fully back calls for CCTV to be rolled out further, with questions about costs to install and maintain the technology, as well as concerns about keeping camera footage secure and avoiding misuse. The WA early childhood minister, Sabine Winton, said she would also be pushing for immediate actions including mandatory safety training. Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion 'I will also be placing strong focus on advocating for building the capacity of the Australian Children's Education and Care Quality Authority and state-based regulators,' she said. 'While all measures to increase child safety should be explored, my focus is on tangible actions that can be implemented now.' NSW and Queensland will be pushing for the national register of childcare workers as the highest priority. The Queensland education minister, John-Paul Langbroek, said a register will be critical to ensuring child safety, promising to, 'continue calling for the urgent introduction of a national early childhood educator register at this week's Education Ministers Meeting'. Meanwhile, NSW will also push for a national register, but acting minister for education and early learning, Courtney Houssos, said the state would be prepared to move alone if other states weren't willing to rapidly implement stronger reforms. 'While NSW is prepared to act alone if necessary to implement nation-leading reforms that will put children's safety and wellbeing first, we are also working with other states and the commonwealth to reform childcare regulation at a national level. 'This includes work on the proposed register for early childhood educators, which will be most effective if it is implemented nationally.' Baxter said Goodstart also wanted to see the extension of federal incentive payments to childcare workers beyond its December 2026 cut-off to help attract and retain high-quality workers. 'Ultimately, the best protection for children remains a stable, well-trained workforce and a strong safeguarding culture which welcomes and encourages reporting where any concerns arise.'
Daily Mail
8 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Grim update after junior doctor at Aussie hospital was accused of filming nurses on the toilet
A junior doctor accused of secretly filming oblivious co-workers in hospital toilets has been slapped with 127 new charges including stalking. Ryan Yi Cho, 28, of Croydon Hills in Melbourne 's east, was arrested twice in July and charged with a total of six offences for alleged offending at the Austin Hospital. He was first arrested on July 10 after a phone concealed in a mesh bag was discovered in a staff toilet at the Austin Hospital in Melbourne's northeast. Later that month, he was arrested for a second time after police analysed devices and allegedly uncovered more than 10,000 videos and images. Cho was charged by police on Wednesday with 127 further offences relating to alleged offending at the Austin but also at the Royal Melbourne Hospital and the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre. The new charges relate to stalking, producing intimate images and installing optical surveillance devices, police said. Officers allege a mobile phone was used as a recording device in staff toilets at all three hospitals, that were used by doctors, nurses and other staff. Police have confirmed their investigation is ongoing, including looking into other medical facilities where Cho worked between 2020 and 2025. Victoria Police investigators that said more alleged victims are expected to be identified but the process could 'take some time'. A spokesperson for the Austin Hospital said it continues to focus its full support on all staff members affected and assist with the current police investigation. 'We take the safety and wellbeing of our staff extremely seriously and have comprehensive services in place to support them at this challenging time,' they told Daily Mail. 'Given that charges have been laid and the police investigation is ongoing, it is not appropriate to comment further.' The Daily Mail has contacted Royal Melbourne Hospital and the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre for comment. During an appearance at Melbourne Magistrates' Court on July 25, the court heard that officers claimed to have found 10,374 video and image files of Cho's alleged victims on several devices. Victoria Police told the court there could be as many as 460 different people allegedly affected, who had all been named on numerous folders found on Cho's computer. The folders allegedly contained a variety of footage of both men and women using hospital toilets, the court heard. It was also alleged in court that Cho captured much of the footage by hanging mesh bags containing mobile phones on the back of staff toilet doors, which police allege he activated to capture hours of lewd footage. One phone allegedly contained 4,500 intimate videos of staff members, the court heard. One video file ran for more than three hours and allegedly captured various hospital staff in states of undress as they used the toilet, the court heard. It was also heard that Cho is alleged to have sabotaged nearby toilets by removing flush buttons, clogging them with toilet paper, or locking them from the outside, so colleagues had no other option but to use the toilet he was filming in. Detectives believe Cho had been offending across various Melbourne hospitals from as far back as 2021, the court heard. The court heard police believed the majority of Cho's alleged victims were doctors, nurses, paramedics and other hospital staff. But some videos appeared to have allegedly been captured in residential settings, with the court told detectives were afraid they included previous housemates of Cho. Cho appeared in court in July defended by top criminal lawyer George Balot, of Balot Reilly Criminal Lawyers, who unsuccessfully argued his client should be released on bail. Cho was supported in court by his parents, who flew in from Singapore to offer the court a $10,000 surety to ensure he complied with any bail conditions. Mr Balot said his client's parents would remain in Australia and ensure Cho complied with his bail conditions. 'He has engaged criminal lawyers, a psychologist, a sexologist, his parents are in Australia to do whatever it takes to have him released to their care,' he said. Cho is a Singapore citizen who has been living in Australia as a permanent resident after completing a Monash University medical degree. He is expected to make another bid for bail at a hearing in the Supreme Court on Friday.
